Scientists have found that "super" solar flares could have warmed the ancient planet and jump-started life.
Space & Planets
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mysterious Heavy Ion Beams Above Mars Explained
NASA's latest mission to Mars has uncovered the origins of fast-moving streams of particles high above the planet, flowing against the solar wind.
Posted inNews
Tsunamis Splashed Ancient Mars
Massive meteorites likely slammed into a Martian ocean billions of years ago, unleashing tsunami waves up to 120 meters tall, a close study of a region of the Red Planet's terrain has found.
Posted inNews
Comet with Stunted Tail Hints at How Solar System Formed
Finding out whether just a few or many of this newfound type of rocky object roam deep space should help scientists sort among contrasting scenarios of the solar system's infancy.
Posted inNews
Aging Stars Make New Habitable Zones
Scientists searching for life in the universe now have a new target: the once-icy worlds orbiting red giants.
Posted inNews
Largest Haul of Newly Verified Exoplanets Announced
About 550 of the planets could be rocky like the Earth, and nine of the planets orbit within their star's habitable zone.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Martian Carbonates Spotted by the Orbiter
The minerals identified by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provide more evidence that the planet may have once been habitable.
Posted inNews
Impacts Might Have Made Ancient Mars Briefly Hospitable to Life
A bombardment of the Red Planet 4 billion years ago could have created hot springs that allowed life to flourish.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Electrons Thrown Off Course in Near-Earth Magnetic Reconnection
NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission detects energy differences in electrons scattered by magnetic reconnection.
Posted inScience Updates
Aurorasaurus Puts Thousands More Eyes on the Sky
Citizen scientists share real-time auroral sightings to advance research.